Today Sprint and Microsoft outlined plans to launch two Windows Phone 8 handsets on the US network. The HTC 8XT and Samsung ATIV S Neo will be packaged with Truly UnlimitedSM Sprint 4G LTE this coming summer. Both phones will be able to take full advantage of LTE speeds, offering consumers a rich experience when using the device while out and about.

The mobile operator is highlighting the main benefit, which is that data, text and calling to any mobile have no metering, there's no throttling on data usage and overages. Here's what Fared Adib, senior vice president-Product Development, Sprint had to say about the announcement:

"We know our customers are anxious to get their hands on these Windows Phone 8 smartphones, HTC 8XT and ATIV S Neo. Without a doubt, they will rival any smartphone on the market today. Our customers will appreciate being able to use them all day, every day without worrying about overages or data caps."

We've covered in the past how Sprint has been on the fence when it comes to Windows Phone but has been quielty looking at supporting the platform. Customers currently subscribed to the network have proved to be among the most loyal base for Microsoft and we're pleased Redmond is looking to introduce new hardware for consumers. So, what's the hardware going to be like?

The HTC 8XT

The new HTC 8XT

HTC will be unleashing a new version of its popular 8X Windows Phone on the Sprint network, the HTC 8XT (or 'Tiara'). It's a notable upgrade with HTC BoomSound, which will introduce dual front-facing speakers with dedicated amplifier to help bring video, music and games to life. Beats Audio is also said to be bundled to further enhance the audio output from the device. As well as that, HTC is also packing advanced dual microphones and better audio processing to capture those loud moments. Doesn't this ring a bell?

Specifications will include a 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon CPU, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory (with MicroSD support), 4.3-inch display and a 1,800mAh battery. An 8MP camera is also bundled with a 1.6MP FFC.The 8XT will be available for $99.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade, two-year service agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate.

While no images have been supplied, we imagine it'll not stray far from the ATIV S we've come to know and love today. The ATIV S Neo will be priced at $149.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade, two-year service agreement and a $50 mail-in rebate.

More information on both Windows phones will be available at a later date, including expected availability so stay tuned. Full press release is below.

Sprint HTC 8XT and Samsung ATIV S Neo

SAN FRANCISCO (BUSINESS WIRE), June 26, 2013 - Sprint (NYSE: S) and Microsoft Corp. today outlined plans to launch the first two Windows Phone 8 smartphones to offer Truly UnlimitedSM Sprint 4G LTE this summer – HTC® 8XT and Samsung ATIV S™ Neo. Customers will appreciate access to the advanced features and capabilities of these devices with the benefit of unlimited 4G LTE (available in select markets) data, text and calling to any mobile with no metering, no throttling, and no overages, all while on the Sprint network.

HTC 8XT will be available for $99.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade, two-year service agreement and $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1. ATIV S Neo will be priced at $149.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade, two-year service agreement and $50 mail-in rebate via reward card1. Exact availability dates and full feature lists for both smartphones will be shared at a later date. Customers can preregister for more information and email updates about Windows Phone 8 from Sprint and HTC 8XT and ATIV S Neo at www.sprint.com/windows8.

“We know our customers are anxious to get their hands on these Windows Phone 8 smartphones, HTC 8XT and ATIV S Neo,” said Fared Adib, senior vice president-Product Development, Sprint. “Without a doubt, they will rival any smartphone on the market today. Our customers will appreciate being able to use them all day, every day without worrying about overages or data caps.”

Windows Phone 8 won the PC Magazine Readers’ Choice Award for best mobile operating system in March 2013. The only phone with Live Tiles, Windows Phone 8 offers a truly personal smartphone experience designed to keep customers connected to the people and things that matter most. Windows Phone brings together the best of Microsoft with the same modern look and feel, including Bing, Office, Xbox and Skype, for a rich customer experience. In addition, the Windows Phone Store includes more than 160,000 apps to choose from, with hundreds added daily.

”We are excited to be bringing the most personal smartphone experience to Sprint customers this summer,” said Terry Myerson, corporate vice president, Microsoft Windows Phone Division. “With compelling hardware from HTC and Samsung, coupled with unlimited 4G LTE from Sprint, these Windows Phones will offer the complete package.”

Must-Have Features from HTC

Music-lovers will appreciate the amazing sound capability of HTC 8XT with HTC BoomSound™, introducing for the first time on Windows Phone 8 dual front-facing stereo speakers with a dedicated amplifier that brings people closer to their music, videos and games they love. In addition, Beats Audio™ enables studio-quality sound, so listeners hear music the way the artist intended with unique audio tuning that delivers thundering bass, soaring midrange and crisp highs. And HDR recording uses advanced dual microphones and audio processing to capture clean, rich sound that is worthy of high-definition video.

“Inspired by the design that won the prestigious ‘red dot award: product design 2013,’ the new HTC 8XT brings a truly crafted smartphone with brilliant color, soft-to-the-touch texture and tapered design to be comfortable in the hand,” said Mike Woodward, president North America, HTC Corporation. “A pleasure to hold and a pleasure to hear, the front-facing stereo speakers are a first for a Windows Phone and deliver sounds that demand to be heard.”

HTC 8XT is also ideal for photo buffs with an 8-megapixel main camera with autofocus and LED flash, and a front-facing 1.6-megapixel camera. The main camera takes great photos in bright-light and low-light situations, and the ability to shoot video and take still pictures simultaneously. It also offers multishot burst mode to help capture the best picture of a moving photo subject, and a dedicated Windows Phone camera button to open the camera quickly, even when the phone is locked or sleeping, so users never miss an opportunity to capture life’s most important moments.

ATIV S Neo will offer a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, microSD memory card slot, international roaming, 4.8-inch high-definition display, Wi-Fi and 2,000mAh lithium-ion removable battery. Sharing is easier than ever with ATIV S Neo featuring ATIV Beam using near field communication (NFC) to share photos, music and video with other Windows Phone 8 and select Android™ devices. ATIV S Neo includes the Samsung exclusive Now feature, which highlights top news, weather and relevant information at a single glance.

“Samsung is committed to offering smartphones across a variety of platforms and the rich Windows Phone 8 experience on the ATIV S Neo is a testament to this effort,” said Kevin Packingham, Samsung Mobile chief product officer. “The ATIV S Neo makes it easy to stay in-the-know while connecting with friends, family and colleagues, through new sharing features and powerful productivity applications.”

Having ATIV S Neo in your pocket means users can do more with their smartphone camera. It will offer an 8-megapixel main camera with LED flash and a front-facing 1.9-megapixel camera for video chat. It will include a variety of camera apps preloaded, including the Beauty Shot mode for smoother looking skin in headshots, Manga Camera to give pictures a fun twist by turning friends and family into cartoons, and built-in Photo Editor that allows the user to edit, color, effect, decorate or share their pictures quickly and easily.

These smartphones also make it easy for customers to stay productive with Office Mobile for Windows Phone. With Office Mobile, people can access, view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from anywhere. Plus, customers can count on Office Mobile to keep content and formatting intact so documents still looks great when back on a PC, Windows tablet or Mac.

Microsoft Office 365 offered by Sprint is available for small and mid-sized businesses. It includes Sprint’s unique Carefree Cloud migration and onboarding assistance, end-user level support, predictable monthly costs with no up-front infrastructure expenses, pay-as-you-go plans, savings by bundling all of the necessary tools and advanced options to simplify management further, all with a single bill and single point of contact. Sprint recently announced expanded plans available with Office 365, including enhanced audio conferencing and availability at select Sprint retail stores.

Sprint offers 4G LTE in top summer destinations like Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Sprint offers 4G LTE service in 110 markets nationwide and expects to provide 200 million people with LTE by the end of 2013.

For the most up-to-date details on Sprint’s 4G LTE portfolio and rollout, visit www.sprint.com/network.

To F N late Sprint. My 4 Sprint Phone lines have been ported over to Verizon, 3 HTC 8X (love 'em) and 1 iPhone (the wife). Its been 8 months since Windows phone 8 came out and Sprint only has an announcement. WEAK!!!!

LOL must not read the news much. Sprint isn't going anywhere. If anything, Sprint is about to be in a better position than ANY Carrier, now with the influence of Japanese backers/knowhow. Japanese networks are far more advanced than US, that will bleed over nicely against the Big 2.

After seeing the leaked images of the "Tiara" last week I was worried. Now I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm still "rockin" the Palm Pre (and only paying $50 a month). Soon I'll have one of those and paying closer to $70 I fear....Eventually, when Softbank puts a Lumia 9?? on Sprint I'll then trade up to that.

Once again, you are dead wrong on my real identity. I am not M****** from USN. He happens to be a long time friend of mines which ironically have the same letters of my real name. However, he can make an appearance, and some of the Sprint supporters here knows his real opinions about people over here. And yes, he lnows very well who you really are, Mister Jazmac.
If you have something to tell directly, do it in private because I am not interested on your vague assumptions. (My appologies to Rich, and Daniel. I have no interest with dealing with individuals who do not have anything to contribute but to bash any member).

Bologna, sprint had the opportunity just like verizon, att, tmobile prior to wp's release. MS met with manufactures and carriers alike. No one bit outside of att & verizon came later with their htc variant which they didn't push

Then explain why no other CDMA carrier (regional or national) joined WP8 at the launch? It's called Qualcomm coding, something Microsoft did not want to
use until the FCC forced them to change it or face suspension of all sales of WP8 devices until they comply. Verizon took a major gamble in carrying four devices which currently use China mobile CDMA coding (and I mean a major gamble on their network security).

I did the same early this year. I was never very happy with my clunky HTC Arrive, I was fed up with their lack of respect and support for the platform, I wasn't very happy with their service and coverage, and I really wanted a Lumia 920. I have no regrets from dumping them.

Happy Sprint is finally joining the party, but come on HTC, 4.3" WVGA? You can do better than that. I guess the SD slot saves it though.

And now I'm super jealous Sprint is getting an LTE version of the ATIV. AT&T really dropped the ball on that one. If I wasn't on a family plan, I actually would consider going to Sprint just to get that phone.

The issue with the L928 screen isn't the PPI. It utilizes a pentile matrix, two green sub pixels for every red and blue sub pixel. The end result is an image that isn't as sharp as it should be, and often whites appear with a green tint. If I recall the only actual benefit is longer lasting blue sub pixels in oled screens. Either way the L928 uses what is likely a Samsung sourced panel and you can blame them for pentile madness, they use it on most of their phones and a few of their plasmas. I don't know of any other manufacturers that make use of it.

Both EXCLUSIVES and Sprint in the same line. Daniel Rubino, are you alive. I know you and the rest of the anti-Sprint community here are blowing gaskets at this moment. How's that for a change? And save your scripted answers because they don't work anymore.

Plus one! I was a 9 year customer of theirs back when everyone carried a flip phone. You generally can't even make or receive phone calls indoors with them. I had to get an Airrave just to make phone calls in my house.

Wrong, blame Microsoft for not willing to play ball with CDMA carriers and Qualcomm. Have in mind CDMA holds over 60% of the US cell phone market in terms of total cell phone lines (not limited to the major four, and the mvnos that operate on the networks of the big 4).

And why do you think Windows Phone is strugguling in getting decent market share? Global will only work until a certain point, and THE US Market is not GSM dominant. Are you going to blame Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, Premier, Alaska Wireless, C Spire, Cricket, Open Mobile de Puerto Rico and many others for Microsoft's lack of interest in the Qualcomm based CDMA carrier market in the US? You really need to think your strategy to make this a negative because you are failing dramatically!

You will still need a backup plan when an outage happens on the LTE side. GSM NOR CDMA are going away until a fool proof plan to keep any LTE network always connected is a reality. We can talk VoLTE all we want but with no back up plan besides keeping the GSM or CDMA infrastructure as a backup is foolish at the very least.

There isna way for openness for CDMA. It only requires a change in the DMCA rules to give the FCC the required authority to do so in order to force CDMA carriers and Qualcomm to come up with a standard in doing so. Sprint is already doing so with their MVNOS (not Boost or Virgin Mobile) and it involves the use of imei and ESN numbers of devices clear of contractual obligations and ETf.

Well, I have a L920 and a L720 and I can tell you there's quite a bit of difference. Is the WVGA bad and unacceptable? No. But does stuff look better on 720p. Yes.
Edit: I was replying to your comment to let you know that although they named it 8XT, making it sound like an upgrade, they did downgrade an important spec - the resolution. Not saying its crappy or not worth getting.

I use to be excited about some of these Samsung phones, but the last few (five to be exact) people that all got Galaxy flagship phones, all have had to repeatedly exchange them because of major problems. Time will tell though.

So true.., two of my work colleagues have both replaced their S4 due to overheating and battery issues. I'm not too sure but I suspect the 1080 resolution as a possible culprit for these glitches with the S4.

I'm happy for the sprint customers who have been waiting and hoping for a good high end WP8, but instead you get 2. Of coarse it would have been great for A Nokia phone to be offered on Sprint, both for Nokia and customers. But lets give some props to Samsung and HTC for hanging in there and building these phones for Sprint customers. I hope Sprint will put some effort into marketing these phones, but its kinda hard to see why they would, this is where Microsoft needs to foot the bill. Edit: I'm just noticing that some are posting the HTC is WVGA, is this true? If so, why would they make a decision like that, you would think they might have a supply of screens from the 8X.

Too late. I dropped sprint with my HTC Arrive to get a nokia 928 on Verizon. The fact is I wasn't really happy with sprint regardless of phones. Their network only works in one room of my house and my internet was coming from verizon wireless anyways. I'm saving about $100/month by having shared data just due to the fact that it didn't cost me much extra to add a phone to my plan and now I'm not paying for a seperate sprint plan. The sad thing is that even verizon isn't that great, but its the only carrier that works in the whole house. (we have no towers anywhere near my neighborhood, or cable for that matter)

Oh and a phone with only 8GB storage should be free on a 2 year contract with no rebate. They better give you at least a 32GB SD card for that price. Neither phone sounds all that great, but then again we don't know the actual storage on the ATIV.

Love the look, and love the audio options. But, dang-gum-it, HTC has not shown a true desire to support their phones the way a Samsung, Nokia, Sony (slow but dependable), or a Motorola has. I love the looks and feel of a HTC. But I just can't get past the idea they don't have the resources to do the after sales improvements.

Actually, there is more than Dan. Years ago, Nokia faced a very nasty lawsuit from Qualcomm for many violations of patents on the CDMA technology, and for manufacturing/using their unauthorized CDMA components. Nokia stopped CDMA manufacturing and has blamed Sprint (and Verizon) for being reported to Qualcomm as required when that happened. That alone can explain why Sprint and all other CDMA carriers in the US outside of Verizon will not see Nokia devices anytime soon (all those carriers have made it clear they rather follow Sprint's demands because they are waiting for a major appology from Nokia on what they said when they announced the end of CDMA manufacturing years ago).
Nokia really needs the CDMA community a whole lot more than the CDMA community needs them.

Hmm... I'm a T-Mobile customer, but 2+ years ago I was considering switching to Sprint at some point in the future. Glad I didn't. Plus, a friend of mine who's been with Sprint for years barely even gets service in his room in his own house! Ugh... The 8XT looks nice, at least.

SPRINT TECH SUPPORT SAYS THEY SEE A NOKIA 928 IN THEIR COMPUTER SYSTEM! Ok, after bitterly complaining to Sprint tech support about the increasingly terrible 3G reception in the Chicago area and telling them I was tired of waiting for mediocre 4G products like the year old HTC 8x tobe shipped.,
After placating me somewhat with a $100 credit for my 5 accounts under my family plan and explaining that I NEED to replace my aging HTC Arrives (best & most durable phones I ever have had), I asked them to check if there was any Nokia products in the horizon. I was told on two separate support calls that they see the product code for the Nokia 928 in their system but don't have a release date yet. This is just what I was told on two separate calls, so don't call me names if it doesn't turn out to be true, but I will patiently wait a little longer if I can get a Nokia on Sprint. I like the durability of the HTC Arrive butHTC has done nothing in the support department to warrant getting two more of their phones. They don"t respond on their HTC community websites to any product questions.
Would love a 5.5" Nokia if I can't get a slideout keyboard, Would even go for a WP8 Samsung Note 3 if they made that size in WP8!

To the Person(s) who thinks I"m bashing HTC you're not reading my comment: my HTC Arrive WP 7.5 is the best phone I ever owned however HTC never supported it properly, only Sprint. The HTC ONE is a very nice phone and I would consider it if it were WP8, but I won't use android and all its inconsistencies. We have two androids out of my 5 lines with sprint. The Nokias actually get updated in a timely manner and have great reviews running WP8. I have business needs which can only be met by WP8 and I want a better camera besides LTE speed.
It would be nice if some of the readers of this blog would actually read my comment and understand what was written without adding their misguided sarcasm which shows that they are more interested in being a smart aleck than writting something intelligent.

One of the very few whose stayed behind, sarcastically speaking, "What took you so long?" I had the Arrive since day 1, and still love it. I will buy the HTC 8XT out of contract to test it out. If it doesn't stack up, I will also be one of the many to jump ship. Even though Sprint has already dropped the proverbial "ball", don't let it roll down the street, pick it up.

FINALLY!! Excited about the Ativ S (Neo)...I have an HTC 8X for work...Time to RAWK some Samsung for personal use!! The final waiting time will be worth it....Bye Bye Arrive...Time to get all Matrix on yo arse!! Bring on the Neo!! ;o) \m/\m/

Man I wish Sprint got this a couple of months ago! Anyway I went to my first Android device got the HTC One on Sprint I like the device so far the hardware great. I still like Windows Phones better I think the OS is better more secured less overhead and less ads as well. I think Microsoft needs to put Nokia in their place and let other top manufactures come out with top devices for Windows Phones like HTC and Samsung. I'm disappointed in that they came out with a low end device from HTC now there was some rumor that HTC Might make a HTC One running Windows Phone 8 which then would Rock. Then the Samsung device is Ativ which would be the one I would choose just overall better hardware but it would have been nice to see Sprint and Samsung come out with a better device as far as hardware wise the Ativ looks like the specs of a S3 basically year old hardware. Either way I'm stuck now with my Android HTC One which has been a nice device so far but I still like WP better. I hope by the time my contract up in 2015 that by then they will have better hardware for WP Platform which they should. I know that they are waiting on 8.1 so WP can support certain features so forth but heck by the time I can upgrade again they will have WP9 will be out probably. If I was still waiting like many have been on Sprint to get on a WP8 device I would go with the Samsung it's by far the better choice. Just wish Sprint would have not drag their feet on WP.

Battery life might be a little less...but the key difference between this and all the other WP8 phones, at least the greater majority is...Samsung = REMOVABLE Battery!! At least you can replace it when it's not holding a great charge anymore...That I can live with for sure!! :)

Funny - I've been waiting patiently for this announcement. Now they finally made it but I may switch to t-mobile for the new Nokia. Why? Sprint makes me pay for 4g and not offer it in my city. T-mobile has 4g coverage. My contract is up in a couple of weeks.

I am not convinced either of these phones are upgrades to the original 8X and Ativ S models. They may include some much needed updates, but not much of an upgrade. With Nokia's 928 and upcoming Eos (1020 or whatever they going to call it) that will be annouced before the launch of these phones, how are these phones suppose to attract new users? I have stayed with Sprint to see what they are going to offer in the Windows Phone department. It seems to me that Sprint's only attitude is the "me too" aspect for Windows Phone. They are going to offer a pair to try and keep some current customers around instead of leaving for another carrier instead of offering anything that might actually attract new customers. The fact these are going to use LTE is nothing special as anything new should. Also, Sprint's LTE offering is far behind that of other major carriers. I am greatly dissappointed to say the least. Now, to decide whether I should stay with Sprint get one of these mediocre devices or move on and pay more for better devices and service...decisons, decisions.

I might still go AT&T...
With the release date right around the corner, I've been in the AT&T store twice now to play with the 920. I'll be paying about $25 more a month than I do with Sprint (14+ yrs with them), but then I think about how horrible network speeds have degraded over the last two years, and most notably the sharper degradation over the last few months.
$25 more is just what I might be willing to pay, if it means I get a reliable, fast connection.

Same here. Left Sprint for Att. Glad I did because without a Nokia Windows Phone, I would have been upset and left for the Lumia EOS or 920. Nokia is Windows Phone and will be providing the most complete Windows Phone experience for some time. Perhaps HTC and Samsung change my perception on Sprint... Only time will tell.

Okay, how can I be proven wrong so far? Anyone being impartial will know that Samsung and HTC have done practically nothing to promote Windows Phone 8. Did you watch the Samsung keynote last week? Did they promte Windows Phone there at all? HTC? Look, you can call me what you want but most people know that these two OEM have been and continue to dedicate themselves to Android with minial Windows Phone 8 support/promotional TV, print, adds. Like I said, hopefully they change and start to realize the opportunity there. The more OEM's, the better. Until then, I stand by my prior statement. Also, I had never owned a Nokia Phone before. After owning the 920 I guess I am a fan of their excellent hardware design, camera, screen technology, etc. I had an HTC Arrive as on March 20th 2011 (note I was there on day one), and loved that phones OS. Where was the HTC support?? We got 7.5 and that was it. Disappearing keyboard was removed by myself no thanks to HTC and Sprint. I thank Se7eighter for that which allowed me to update to 7.8.

Truly hope these are supported. We need WP8 success on all carriers. Always loved the idea of the ATIV S after my amazing experience with my beloved Focus S. If Sprint and Sammy choose to actually promote these devices, I feel they may have the sleeper hit of the 1st generation of WP8 devices.

FINALLY!!! I thought I was gonna be a gray haired old man by time they announced these phones. I can't wait but is the rebate included in the Neo price or is it 149.99 and then the rebate I guess time will tell.

Late to the party Sprint. I dropped u last fall and went to Verizon (after 14yrs) because of your lack of support for WP8. You can clean up the mess the rest of left at that party and maybe be on time for WP9.

Those phones look really awesome. But I think the HTC 8XT should have a 2000 mAh battery or higher rather then the 1,800mAh. There is boom sound, games, mobile data.. 1,800mAh is kinda low for a high end phone in my opinion..

Ive been waiting for a new Windows Phone device to be announced for a LONG TIME... but now that they're announced, I'm honestly not as excited as I am for that new Lumia EOS coming to AT&T.
Dont wana jump on the ATIV S Neo like I would have a month or 2 ago becasue I now am not sure if I want to jump on these or wait and see what the EOS is talking about

Considering that Sprint has yet to announce a date outside of "summer" you may be able to get your hands on an Eos or at least have a better idea of availabilty date before these are available anyway. Also, the Eos is a flagship phone without a doubt. These unfortunately are not so much. Sprint is just trying t be in the game, not lead it or even offer any cutting edge WP8 devices which makes me wonder if they will support it any better than they did the Arrive. I am very sad.

Wow... the 8XT is amazing looking. I have an 8x but I always thought the 8s had a much better look with the dual colors. It was just never released in the US and was a midrange phone. This nails it on the head because you don't need to mess with the current 8x feel it's already great, but with the audio and SD card additions this would be a dream phone for me. All it needs is some Zeiss to top it off but the quality of photos on my 8x is pretty good too. Keep 'em coming HTC, can't wait to see what you have in store for Verizon customers in about a year and a half.

While I'm happy that Sprint finally saw the light, they might as well have waited until the end of the year for the devices with the GDR3 update so at least their customers can get quad-core and 1080p screens.

Dear Sprint,
Sorry that we had to part ways several months back, I just didn't feel like you cared about me anymore. Since then I've moved on and found someone else though, while they have there own set of issues at least they treat me good and have what I'm looking for. I really wish things would have worked out between us, but as they say "no regrets".
I hope you do well for yourself, but i'm not holding my breath as we both know you have some serious issues to work out.
Maybe someday if you can get your act together we'll see each other again, maybe not. Anyway good luck.